Advent Begins in the Dark
For Meditation (Corey Widmer)
Advent is the start of the Liturgical Year. We begin the year in a season that encapsulates, in many ways, the whole story of Jesus: his coming in the incarnation, his dwelling in the Word and sacraments by the power of His Spirit, and his return when he will renew all things. Advent helps to place us in God’s time. We dwell in the “time between.” What does it mean to be in this liminal space? There is a gravitational pull to leave the liminal from a place that we find more sturdy. But there is nothing sturdier than finding ourselves as we really are, stranded in time with the word and sacraments to strengthen us, awaiting the impossible yet promised day—God’s intervention in his second coming.
The practice of Advent is counter-cultural. At a time when the surrounding culture brings festive decorations, purchases gifts, hosts parties, and declares “it’s the most wonderful time of the year,” the church waits in darkness. We look full-faced into the worst parts of our world and unabashedly hold to the most outlandish of hopes: our God, in Christ, has conquered sin and death and will come again to wipe away every tear. The hope we find in Advent is not a sentimental optimism, nor an excuse to look away from the troubles we find in our world; no, the hope we find in Advent stands attentive to the darkness, waiting and watching as flickers of the Light of the World appear, alluding to the day when there will be no more night.
As we practice Advent together as a church, we will hold fast to the gifts of God’s word and sacraments, as God forms in us a sturdy hope to name the deepest of sorrows and to dream for the deepest of joys. This year as we celebrate Advent together, we will include additional Scripture readings in our worship and we will celebrate the Lord’s Supper together each week. After all, in this time between the two comings of Christ, he continues to come to us again and again through his word and through his table.
Let us go boldly together in this season, dependent on the faithful God to meet us in the darkness.
“The Advent darkness is where there is no human hope whatsoever and the only possibility is the impossibility of the intervention of God. That is the apocalyptic invasion of the world announced by John the Baptist–precisely because ‘nothing can save us that is possible.’” — Fleming Rutledge
Psalm 122
I rejoiced with those who said to me,
“Let us go to the house of the Lord.”
Our feet are standing
in your gates, Jerusalem.
Jerusalem is built like a city
that is closely compacted together.
That is where the tribes go up—
the tribes of the Lord—
to praise the name of the Lord
according to the statute given to Israel.
There stand the thrones for judgment,
the thrones of the house of David.
Pray for the peace of Jerusalem:
“May those who love you be secure.
May there be peace within your walls
and security within your citadels.”
For the sake of my family and friends,
I will say, “Peace be within you.”
For the sake of the house of the Lord our God,
I will seek your prosperity.
Isaiah 2:1-5
This is what Isaiah son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem:
In the last days
the mountain of the Lord’s temple will be established
as the highest of the mountains;
it will be exalted above the hills,
and all nations will stream to it.
Many peoples will come and say,
“Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord,
to the temple of the God of Jacob.
He will teach us his ways,
so that we may walk in his paths.”
The law will go out from Zion,
the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.
He will judge between the nations
and will settle disputes for many peoples.
They will beat their swords into plowshares
and their spears into pruning hooks.
Nation will not take up sword against nation,
nor will they train for war anymore.
Come, descendants of Jacob,
let us walk in the light of the Lord.
Romans 13:11-14
And do this, understanding the present time: The hour has already come for you to wake up from your slumber, because our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed. The night is nearly over; the day is almost here. So let us put aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light. Let us behave decently, as in the daytime, not in carousing and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and debauchery, not in dissension and jealousy. Rather, clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ, and do not think about how to gratify the desires of the flesh.
Matthew 24:36-44
“But about that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. For in the days before the flood, people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, up to the day Noah entered the ark; and they knew nothing about what would happen until the flood came and took them all away. That is how it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. Two men will be in the field; one will be taken and the other left. Two women will be grinding with a hand mill; one will be taken and the other left.
“Therefore keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come. But understand this: If the owner of the house had known at what time of night the thief was coming, he would have kept watch and would not have let his house be broken into. So you also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him.”